“We achieved a really important milestone this year, which is 1 million people lifted out of extreme poverty. So it’s been really exciting to be on this journey and to see the impact on the lives of the people that we’re serving.”

Who is Dianne Calvi?

Dianne Calvi is the CEO of Village Enterprise. She started the non-profit in 2010. So far, she has grown the organization from 13 employees to now 200. Over time she has also helped more than 1 million people transition out of extreme poverty. Village Enterprise works towards achieving the United Nations’ first sustainable development goal…to end extreme poverty by 2030. And the UN defines extreme poverty as people living on less than one dollar and 25 cents a day. As of last year, more than half of the world’s population living in extreme poverty is located in sub-Saharan Africa…and that is who Village Enterprise works with.

Who does Village Enterprise work with to reduce extreme poverty?

We work with mostly women, first-time entrepreneurs living in rural areas of Sub-Saharan Africa. This we do by providing them with all the resources to start small, sustainable businesses and savings groups. We do that through a poverty graduation approach. This involves providing the seed capital in the form of a grant instead of loans. After that, we provide them with really extensive training and mentoring by a local business mentor. We also help them form savings groups and help them get access to formal financial institutions.

By doing that, we really transform both the household and the community, lifting them out of extreme poverty. We see improvement in nutrition, and household savings, education and healthcare. We also see changes in subjective wellbeing, like better mental health, increased standing in the community, greater agency and empowerment.

You know when women are empowered and have access and control over financial resources, they invest in their children. And that is going to have a transformative impact for generations to come.

Where does your inspiration to help people living in extreme poverty and particularly women in Sub-Saharan Africa, come from?

The United Nations set out to achieve some really ambitious goals around poverty, women’s empowerment, the environment, and food security. Statistics show that extreme poverty numbers are higher for women than men in Sub-Saharan Africa; 127 women aged 25-34 live in extreme poverty for every 100 men.More than half (56%) of urban women and girls live in slum conditions. They lack at least one of the following: access to clean water, improved sanitation facilities, durable housing, and sufficient living area. And yet these are important because to really have a better world for all, all people need to be able to access education, healthcare services and be able to lift themselves out of poverty.

And so the United United Nations set some really ambitious goals and the number one being to end extreme poverty. There have been some really significant trends in the last 20 years in the area of poverty. And one of them is that the rate of extreme poverty has come down significantly. But there are still over 400 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa living in extreme poverty. And that’s been the area of the world where it’s been most difficult, addressing this in this goal. And that’s why Village Enterprise has chosen to focus on Sub-Saharan Africa.

Can you explain where Sub-Sahara is in Africa and what the situation is regarding extreme poverty?

Sub-Saharan Africa is south of the Sahara desert and Africa and it’s a really vast area. It includes 46 out of the 54 countries in Africa and is the less developed part of Africa economically. But it’s a really rich area in terms of resources and culture and very diverse in terms of culture. So we work in Kenya, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. But it is our goal to work in at least four to five additional Sub-Saharan African countries In the next three years.

That’s a big goal! So it sounds like you have a very big ambition forVillage Enterprise?

Yeah, we do have really big ambitions. So as I mentioned, we have transformed the lives of over a million people. And it’s our goal to raise that number to around 20 million by 2030.

I’ve heard that when we get women out of extreme poverty, they may reinvest up to 70% of their earnings in the community and in their children. Do you think this is correct, from your experience at Village Enterprise?

Yeah, that’s, that is indeed the case that we see with our women business owners. When women have income from their businesses, one of the first things they do is make sure their children are going to school. They pay the school fees and get them the school uniforms.

Women are especially making sure that their girl children are able to go to school. Oftentimes in Africa, the boys are the ones that go to school, and girls are left out.

The women are also investing in nutrition for their families. The children are eating more meals a day and more protein and we know that when children have better nutrition, it has an impact on the rest of their lives. So this is really breaking the cycle of extreme poverty by ensuring that children have healthy brain development or going to school and realizing their potential.

Based on a United Nations Women report, 15 million girls of primary-school age will never get the chance to learn to read or write compared to 10 million boys. And 48.1% of adolescent girls are more likely to be out of school than adolescent boys – 48.1%, compared to 43.6%.

Do you have a success story that you would like to share with us?

Sure! There are so many. In my last visit to the field, I went up to the Bidi Bidi Refugee Camp in Northern Uganda, one of the world's largest refugee camps. Over a million people are living in this area of Northern Uganda. They have come from mostly South Sudan, but also from the DRC. At the camp, I met a woman, Salome, and she told me her story of having to leave her homeland. She doesn’t know where her husband is and she had already lost one child. Salome had to walk for two months, with her seven children, aged between 1 and 10, carrying her one-year-old on her back the whole time. They kept walking, not knowing where their next meal would come from, not knowing where they would find water. It is just hard to imagine as a mother what that would be like.

On arriving at the Bidi Bidi Refugee Camp, they received provisions; some rice and some oil, and a tent for her and her seven children to sleep in. But no way to really make their lives better. And, you know, this sense of hopelessness, the sense of loss, and extreme poverty stayed with them. So when Village Enterprise came to the refugee camp, uh, she was really excited to participate in our program.

So how did you involve Salome with Village Enterprise?

Salome started receiving mentoring and training first. She had never run a business before and she said it was so empowering to her to gain these skills. Salome was also happy to participate in the savings group with other women. She formed a business group with two other women and decided to start a butchery business because there was no meat available in the camps. They used the seed capital to buy their first goats and they started running a successful butchery business.

And when I asked Salome about what was so empowering about this, she said, “Someday I hope to go back to South Sudan and, I won’t be able to bring this business with me. But they can never take away what I’ve learned through the training and my relationship with my business mentor. That’s something I’ll take with me forever.” So you see, it’s not just the ability to start the business, but it’s also all of the knowledge and the skills that they develop and have for the rest of their lives.

Wow, that’s just incredible! And what is the story behind Village Enterprise and how has the journey towards eradicating extreme poverty been so far?

Well, Village Enterprise was started in 1987 by Brian Lenhen and John Hestenes. They started it because they were really moved by the extreme poverty conditions that they saw when they visited Africa and wanted to make a difference. It was run for many years primarily as a volunteer organization, working through church communities.

When I came on board, I was the first outside CEO hired by the organization in 2010. When the board was interested in transitioning the organization from a primarily volunteer-run organization to a more professional organization. And really scaling up the impact that the organization had. So we’ve grown the organization from 13 employees when I started to close to 200 employees now. This year, we achieved a really important milestone, which is 1 million people lifted out of extreme poverty.So it’s been really exciting to be on this journey and see the impact on the lives of the people we’re serving. And we’re starting over 4,800 businesses and training over 13,000, 16, 13,000, 600 new entrepreneurs.

So that is about Village Enterprise. What about you? What was your journey that led you to this world of social entrepreneurship?

Well, I’ve always been involved with helping vulnerable and marginalized people since I was a child. I was always doing volunteer work with low-income communities, tutoring, working in homeless shelters. And I was born severely pigeon-toed and spent the first few years of my elementary school years in heavy metal braces and corrective shoes. I was ostracized as a child because of that. And as a result, I think I’ve always identified with people that have been ostracized or marginalized.

And I’m fortunate that I grew up in a family that really valued community service and encouraged me. From the time I was like eight years old, I was helping tutor kids and, and was part of a volunteer organization. And so I’ve done that all my life. I received an MBA, so I went into the private sector for several years and worked for high-tech companies like Microsoft. But I decided about 15 years ago that I really wanted to focus my career on the nonprofit sector. So I became the president of an early literacy organization about 15 years ago. I really enjoyed applying all the skills that I had developed in the nonprofit sector and the knowledge that I had acquired in the for-profit sector.

So I really feel nonprofits should be run like businesses, where we really need to focus on impact and efficiency and cost-effectiveness. And I think having experienced running businesses in the for-profit sector has really helped to inform the way I run Village Enterprise. As I mentioned, I was recruited in 2010 to run Village Enterprise and it’s just been an extraordinary journey.

I have seen many women come forward to help other women out of extreme poverty in my work. What’s your take on women leaders?

Yeah, I think what’s really exciting to see is women increasingly in positions of power where they can really make a difference. And I think as women, we do lead differently. I think women are more likely to empower others and provide opportunities for everyone in the organization to assume leadership positions. Women, I think, are more sensitive to issues around how the most marginalized are treated. And using a much more human-centered design approach, really getting to know the needs of the community. They also have less of a ‘we-know-what's-best-for-you’ and instead work with and listen to the community.

And I think what women also do is empower other women. So currently, four out of five of my C-suite leaders are women. And 75% of the managers in the organization are women. Uh, we really value, um, leadership at all levels, um, and, and look to women, uh, to be those leaders in the organization.

Lately, there has been an important societal shift towards impact investing in 2020. The younger generation is really questioning the companies they are working for and the impact companies have. There is also a really big kind of movement of people who want to align their values, personal values with their work.

Well, I think it just depends on the individuals. So I don’t think that there’s one solution. I think clearly working in a nonprofit is the most direct way to have an impact. You get to experience it every day and work with other people that are mission-driven. And so it’s just very satisfying. But I think if you can’t work in a nonprofit, you can volunteer. You can start a social enterprise or a for-profit organization that has a positive impact. Similarly, within a for-profit company, you can bring these types of values to the for-profit environment and help shift the mindset of for-profit companies from within. And I think all of those are very valuable and will help, you know, this social shift in a positive direction.

How can people who would like to support your mission can contact you?

Well, like all nonprofits, we rely on donor funding to do our work of lifting people out of extreme poverty. So we always appreciate donations from people that are interested in helping others help themselves. And we also look to getting the word out about the work that we do.The more people who know about the impact of this kind of work, the better in terms of promoting this type of work.

And then we have a very small need for volunteers. Our work is community-based, so we hire people from those communities and we don’t really have a huge need for volunteers in the field. But we do use volunteers to do things like providing us with legal services, accounting services and marketing services. So there are volunteers that help us every day and we really appreciate them as well.

Sidenote from the author

Talking to Dianne was a rewarding moment. What strikes me the most is her impact on so many lives and her driving desire to align her values and work life. It also brought me back to my childhood. I used to live in Niger when I was 10. Thinking back to this time, I realized how difficult it was for me to navigate poverty. Meeting girls my age, who were poor and didn’t have much. It seemed unfair. I wish I had more help to make sense of it if you can ever make sense of poverty. I remember feeling powerless because I wanted to help and I didn’t know-how. And I now believe that my role is to help amplify the impact of women like Dianne on society because they know how to make a difference and support them!

Join our newsletter

To Learn More

• United Nations Sustainable Development Goals
• Extreme poverty currently measures to people living on less than $1.25/day
• 736 million people live in extreme poverty…but this website measures it as less than 1.90/a day. More than half of that number live in sub-Saharan Africa (413 million people)
• Since 1990 (so 20 years), a quarter of the world has risen out of extreme poverty and now less than the world’s population lives in extreme poverty
• As boys and girls get older, the gender gap in poverty widens further. Marriage, divorce, separation and widowhood also affect the poverty of men and women differently. Girls and boys who are married before 18 see higher poverty rates than those who are married later.

Fairtrade green sneakers are the AKS founders’ answer to helping women improve their lives in Pakistan.

Today we are learning how we can help women in Pakistan to become more independent and invest in their daughters’ future. In 2019, a bill introduced by Pakistani female senator, Sherry Rehman, was passed in the Pakistani Senate to increase the minimum age of marriage for females from 16 to 18. The bill aimed to end child marriage in Pakistan with a focus on girls who are the most at risk.

In 2013, UNICEF estimated at 21% the number of girls who got married before the legal age.

The 2014 Global Gender Gap Report published by the World Economic Forum ranked Pakistan as the second-worst country globally in gender equality after Yemen. Forced marriage is one of the causes of illiteracy and low education for girls.

In this article, we are talking with Drakhsan Khan, who has decided to be part of the solutions to change women's reality in Pakistan.

• From Finance to Entrepreneur
• Making an impact: a key driver
• Crowdfunding as a go-to-market strategy

How did you start your entrepreneurial journey?

My name is Drakhsan Khan, and I am the co-founder of Purple Impressions [note of the editor, the company has been renamed AKS since this interview]. I founded the company with my sister. We have similar values, and I can’t think of a better partner than my own sister. Purple impressions started with being an artisan brand and we are branching out of that towards sustainable (green) sneakers. What we have done is connected farmers with artisans and factories, and we’ve brought them together to produce a clean sneaker.

When did you decide to become an entrepreneur?

I never honestly thought that I would be an entrepreneur. My background is in finance and economics. You know, I love economics a little bit more; just studying communities and how we can uplift communities comes from that side of me. So social entrepreneurship, I guess it was a natural path to my calling I guess. And I love how the green sneakers turned out.

How did you get the idea to start a green sneaker company?

Oh, it’s a bit of an interesting story. We started our co-op with the apparel. One day, my sister and I traveled on a sourcing trip for the apparel and my sister needed shoes for herself. Being sustainable buyers ourselves, we were looking for just sustainable sneakers there. But what we found on the market were, very limited in variety and bland for our taste. So this crazy idea popped up in my sister’s head and she was and she told me, “You know, I really wish that we could put our artisans’ hand embroidery on sneakers.” And that’s really where the idea was born. Right there and then began a journey of now three years and our green sneakers are getting more and more popular.

What happened afterward?

What began as a business trip for our apparel, Purple Impression, ended in our coming up with a new idea. We are now phasing them out and branching more into the sneakers Fuse sneakers. The sneakers are kind of like a fusion of hand embroidery and a classic sneaker.

Why did you choose Pakistan to create a sustainable green sneakers line?

Yeah, actually, it is a little bit of a personal story. I spent two years living in Pakistan when I was about eight or nine years old. I’ve lived in artisan and farming communities over there and I’ve seen the lack of gender equality in that country. And that was something very hard for me to see. I see myself in a place of privilege, and I wanted to give back to them in some way. And I guess just knowing what beautiful skills they have, it was just only natural for me to go back and use their skills in a creative way to produce our green sneakers.

What has been the impact of your company in Pakistan?

Yeah, so for us, really, the goal was to provide a clean product. I mean, we had been doing artisan goods for some time, but we were doing something new. When you are putting something as unique as hand embroidery on something, you want it to last. You want it to be meaningful. Something good that you can pass on to the next generation. I mean, traditionally, that is what hand embroidery was used for. So we wanted to make sure that whatever product we were producing had a clean supply chain. And thus, our green sneakers made all the sense.

When you say ‘good’ what do you mean?

So what we mean by that is good for the people and good for the planet. Again going back to the farmers. We decided to use organic cotton, which is tied very closely to women’s development. 80% of cotton pickers are women, and their health gets deeply affected, especially in cotton farming, through the pesticides that get used. That is why we decided to use organic cotton to make sure that the cotton pickers' health was taken care of. And our cotton is also fair trade certified. So again, we offer a fair price for the farmers. So that is one level of impact. On the second level, we have hand-embroidery where we have our own co-op that we use.

How else is your factory beneficial to the locals?

So all of the artisans are our own employees and we give them a fair wage for all the work they do for us. And at the third level, we have our factory partners. 10% of every shoe that we sell actually goes into garment work, the Carmen factory workers fund, very separate from the factory. Then that fund gets distributed for workers, kids, healthcare, education, and they have a full say on where that money gets spent. That ends up being three levels of impact through a purer and clean product. This is good for people who are producing green sneakers and for the planet and the people who are wearing them.

What does it look like to work in Pakistan?

The short answer would be that, just like any country, there are thriving cities that are more forward-thinking. So Pakistan is no different. There are cities in Pakistan that are where women are thriving and doing some great work. But at the same time, there are rural villages where there is a need for women’s development. It was interesting to me that Pakistan is amongst one of the four countries that lack gender equality.

The amount of child marriages in Pakistan is quite high. This is something that I can testify to because I have seen it and I also come from that community. So our work is very focused on that. There is a lot that can be done. Unfortunately, not a lot of people are going to Pakistan due to the perceived political climate. Honestly, I think I was able to give back, and I decided to do so. But the reality on the ground is different. You know, it is not as bad as what we hear.

There is some great tourism over in Pakistan. There are great opportunities there. There are amazing talents and a lot of Pakistan is undiscovered. So there is definitely an opportunity to do a lot more.

When you empower women economically to get out of poverty, it usually impacts the whole community. Is it the same in Pakistan?

Yeah, absolutely. We have definitely witnessed that. Whatever income our artisan women earn, they invest directly in their children or their family.

And our hope is that when we empower women financially, that money would be reinvested back in their daughters’ education. So the whole idea is to prevent child marriages and invest more in girls' education.

How did you decide on the go-to-market strategy?

So we used the crowdfunding campaign. We were able to raise $30000 from selling about like about 300 pairs of green sneakers. Remember, we are a small business and dealing with a handmade product that cannot be scaled very quickly. Crowdfunding for us was a little bit challenging. I find that crowdfunding works a lot better with more scalable products. But in terms of planning, it took us about two months to plan the campaign and put it all together.

What challenges did you experience?

Crowdfunding is definitely a great way to enter the market. There is no doubt about that. It served that purpose for us, but I would tell entrepreneurs not to fall for the million dollars raised. I mean to say that you have to have a scalable product to raise that kind of money. Cause you know, with handmade products, you are limited. So you have to how many orders you can take as well. Cause at the end of the day, you have to deliver on that promise of providing quality goods. So that is something to take into consideration. We ran the campaign for about 30 days.

Subscribe to our newsletter to get more stories like this

Who has inspired you to become a change-maker?

Yeah, my mom definitely has a big role to play in getting me where I am right now. I also believe our values come from our parents. But you know, whatever it is, your religion or your faith, it is just those inherent values that see right from wrong. That is really what it was that got me to make or start whatever I did.

How can people create an impact on the society they live in?

I want to leave people with if that fits in your head, go for it. You know, it is really a matter of taking that first step. That is really what it was for me.

I waited my entire life. I knew there was a problem in society when I was eight or nine years old. I think that is really when it all started for me. I waited for someone else to come solve the problem. It wasn’t really until I decided to step up and say, okay, that someone that I’m waiting for is me that I took that first step. So if you are thinking about it, you are passionate about it, that is really all that it takes.

Learn more about:

• AKS Fair Trade Sneaker
• Fuse sneakers Crowdfunding Project
• State of the gender gap in Pakistan
• The plight of women cotton pickers in Pakistan
• Child marriages in Pakistan
• Gender gap report (2014) by the World Economic Forum

• From marketing to social entrepreneurship
• OurGoodBrands’s story
• Challenges to social entrepreneurship
• How social entrepreneurship is different from traditional entrepreneurship

Who is Maxime Ducker?

Maxime is originally from Spain but now lives in Australia. She is the founder and chief editor of OurGoodBrands.com, an eco-hub of social impact resources for worldwide consumers and brands to make better decisions. Like many entrepreneurs, Maxime wears many hats. She also runs an impact agency, fourppineapples.com supporting social and eco enterprises with their marketing.

What is the story behind Our Good Brands?

OurGoodBrands.com is an eco-entertainment hub for consumers and brands to make better decisions. Here you will find content, tips, stories that are positive and empowering. In addition, you can read blogs, guides, download ebooks, listen to some of the favorite podcasters in the sustainable, eco, and social world, and also find out about books to read and documentaries or ted talks to watch! It is basically a hub for social enterprise. At Ourgoodbrands, our goal is to showcase ethical, social and eco-driven companies and great people. We also aim to make sustainability a little bit more fun and entertaining.

How did you become a social entrepreneur?

My goal has always been to raise awareness about social + eco enterprises for both people who want to start a business, and also for consumers who want to live a more sustainable lifestyle.

As a marketer, my biggest drive was curiosity and the will to learn about the brands that were leading in the space.

This was so that I could serve them with my marketing services instead of corporations serving in the role.

What drives you every day?

I wanted to be part of a movement that designs a new paradigm that's good for all creatures on earth and definitely more protective of the environment. I really want to challenge consumption and help people understand they have the power to change the world.

If all of us stop purchasing from brands that put nasties on cosmetics and destroy the environment to produce and dispose their products, these brands would disappear.

What is the difference between a social entrepreneur and an entrepreneur?

Easily explained, social entrepreneurship consists of making businesses borne of social or environmental problems. Social enterprise involves creating businesses that have an overarching WHY (a mission and a purpose, a reason to exist), with a community of customers (to make sales and be profitable) and a community of service (to give back and serve the purpose). Social entrepreneurs require a business model where the impact is completely woven into their business.

How has your background in marketing prepared you for your current role in social enterprise?

Over the past couple of years, I have supported over 300 ethical brands – social and eco enterprises – to get the word out to the world. I’ve interviewed CEOs and researched thousands of brands in the sustainability niche, therefore I would call myself a sustainability marketing expert. With OurGoodBrands, I understand both ends: the consumers’ expectations, their behaviors, as well as their journey to become more sustainable. On the other hand, I have studied hundreds of social + eco enterprises to understand what works in the space, the different business models and how to reach their ideal customer with the right combination of tactics.

In marketing, I have a 360º or holistic approach which allows me to curate strategies that are exactly right for your brand. For your ethical brands, I can offer content production, UX/UI web design, digital strategy and implementation, including SEO, email marketing, social media, online advertising and PR. Being open-minded and curious about everything, the new and unknown excites me.

I would say: just do it – inches make champions and excuses only exist if you give them a reason.

What are the challenges of launching a media platform?

Starting small and being found by people researching content related to your niche. It is also not easy staying around long enough to become a sustainable business without the investment that any other serious media platform would have access to.

Would you say you have experienced any additional challenges, being a woman?

To be honest, not at all. In the space of social + eco enterprises it is very common to see women, in fact I’d say more than men. It is also a very supportive community to grow in both, personally and professionally, regardless of gender.

How can we get more women to start media platforms/hubs?

The way I started was purely with passion and I played with the advantage that I was a marketer. I had SEO’s knowledge and other digital skills that are essential to growing your online business: social media, blogging. You need some skills in social enterprise to help you sail along.

What would be your advice to other women entrepreneurs who want to start a social enterprise?

I would say: just do it – inches make champions and excuses only exist if you give them a reason.

Second, I advise women entrepreneurs to believe in themselves.

From my observation, there are many women in social enterprise who are making an incredibly positive impact. Do not allow anyone to put you down because of gender or any other reason, really!

How can people interact with you especially regarding social enterprise?

If you are a reader: come and entertain yourself with some good content related to living more sustainably. You can choose to read, learn about documentaries, watch a selection of curated Ted Talks, and listen to the most brilliant podcasters in the sphere of social + eco enterprises and conscious living.

If you are a brand: reach out to feature your brand at OurGoodBrands.com. To access marketing services specialized within your niche, feel free to reach out for a 30-minutes free Eco-Consultation.

For bloggers: you are welcome to join our community and write a content piece for us to share your story or any topic in the social or climate action niche that could empower other like-minded.

To Go Deeper:

• Our Good Brands
• What is a social enterprise?
• How to recognize social enterprise ethical brand?
• Fourppineapples: Impact Marketing Agency
• To learn more about social entrepreneurship vs traditional entrepreneurship